High-school baseball: Past tournament success paying dividends now

Thursday

May 29, 2014 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2014 at 9:07 AM

At the time of the seeding meeting for the Division I Central District baseball tournament, Gahanna was sporting an 11-11 record and was coming off losses to Thomas Worthington, Grove City and Pickerington North.

Mark Znidar, The Columbus Dispatch

At the time of the seeding meeting for the Division I Central District baseball tournament, Gahanna was sporting an 11-11 record and was coming off losses to Thomas Worthington, Grove City and Pickerington North.

Lions coach Mike Shade was grateful to be seeded 11th, but it wasn’t as if fellow coaches were being generous with their votes. They knew exactly what they were doing.

Gahanna defeated Olentangy Orange 9-7 and St. Charles 5-3 to win its fifth district championship in seven seasons.

The Lions (15-12), who will play Grove City (24-5) in a regional semifinal today at Dublin Coffman, has relied on their experience from making it to the state semifinals last year. “If you’v e never been to a final four, it seems so far away of a goal,” Shade said. “Then you get to the final four, and suddenly you’ve got this experience in a big stadium in front of a lot of people.

“We were just confident going into the tournament this year. We played a tough schedule and lost a lot of close games. We thought we had just as good a chance as anybody. We’ve got talent, too"

State tournament experience also helped Grove City, Jonathan Alder, Bloom-Carroll and Newark Catholic get to the “Sweet 16.”

Grove City made it to the state semifinals at Huntington Park in 2011 and ’12.

“We’ve got three seniors who played on the 2012 team — Tyler Cowles, Ben Myers and Dominic Cooper — and they’ve been telling the younger guys what it is all about,” coach Ryan Alexander said. “They’ve told them about the preparation that is needed — the mindset. There haven’t been many workouts where that subject isn’t brought up. The word Huntington is always talked about.”

Pickerington North (18-8) and Olentangy Liberty (24-5) will meet in today’s other Division I regional semifinal at Coffman.

In Division II, Jonathan Alder (25-1) will play Bellefontaine (26-5) at Wright State. The Pioneers were state runners-up last season, a semifinalist in 2011 and champions in 2010 and 1998.

“Having played in a state tournament definitely has an effect on your team,” Alder coach Craig Kyle said. “You can’t coach experience. These players don’t get nervous. You look them in the eyes and they know what to expect. Our kids expect to play in big games, but they never take anything for granted. We’re just as proud winning a fifth straight district championship.”

Bloom-Carroll (25-1) will continue its drive for a second straight state tournament appearance against Jackson (20-4) in Zanesville. There are only four seniors on the roster.

“We only lost a handful of kids from last season, so they know they belong on that stage,” coach Brian Thacker said. “We didn’t win a championship last year, but being there was huge. Our players remember that there were a lot of 5-4, 4-3 and 3-2 wins, and those 26 wins happened for a reason. They made a lot of plays.”

In Division IV, Newark Catholic (17-7) again is the big dog. It goes into a regional semifinal against Glouster Trimble (17-5) at Lancaster seeking a second straight state championship and eighth overall. The Green Wave has played in 13 final fours.

“There are a lot of new faces in the dugout, and we tell the players that it’s a new team and a new year,” coach John Cannizzaro said. “A lot of our players sat in the stands watching the state tournament. We tell them not to think about the PR from last year.”

Cannizzaro said the players realize the tournament is unpredictable.

“The one-and-out process reminds you that it takes one bad day and you are finished,” he said. “ You can’t play defensive. You play to win and not to lose. That’s what having been to a state tournament teaches your team.”